Category Archives: German Language Tests

# My aim from this video is to share my expereience and help foreign doctors in understanding better what is tested in the Fachsprachenprüfung. Sorry for the mistakes! “Life is too short to learn German!’

**** Language mistakes are tolerated. But it is a huge problem when you use Lateinisch with the patients. It is wrong therefore to ask the patient: “Haben Sie Diabetes/Hypertonie? Haben Sie Appendizektomie gehabt” — Correct is to use the “German words”: Haben Sie Zuckerkrankheit? Bluthochdruck? Haben Sie Blinddarmenfernung gehabt?”

*** The challenging-question I gave of Herr Müller having severe abdominal pain and demanding analgesics: Should one give or withold analgesics in case of acute abdomen until a diagnosis is reached? I thought the answer was “withold the analgesics”. But it seems this was the situation “for decades” (reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21249672). Now, according to the previous Cochrane review from 2011, “This strategy has been questioned by some studies that have shown that the use of analgesia in the initial evaluation of patients with AAP leads to a significant reduction in pain without affecting diagnostic accuracy.”

Unfortunately, I do not have enough experience neither here in Germany nor in Jordan. So, maybe you can help in answering if Herr Müller could get analgesics at the time of the history-taking or not. I think one can wait until after the physical examination. What do you think?

Like always:Please post any questions or additional information public here in this post (comments boxes are at the end of this page) not in a private message. I really do not have time only to help one person at a time! Here will all to see and participate!

– 29.04.214: I got B2 Level from Goethe-Institute in Jordan (77,5) but contined learning German in order to reach the C1 level and to pass Telc’s B2-C1 Medical Exam. But most importantly, to imrpove my language because this is, with Approbation and working experience, the most important factor in getting a job in Germany.

– July 2014: I finished my internship year.

– October 2014: – – I came to Germany and started a B2-C1 medical German course and C1 courses (One general and the other to prepare for Goethe’s C1-Exam.

— I did a one week Hospitation in psychiatry. Unfortuantely, I could not do more. I was restricted to the language course. Not doing a Hospitation was a great advantage because I spent three months at home not being able to interact with Germans and living with Arab colleagues. Finding accomodation in WGs (Wohnung Gemeinschaften, i.e., shared accomoation) with Germans is very hard if you only plan to stay in a city for less than three months. In addition, finding such accomodation requires a lot of interviews and waiting.

— I applied for Approbation at middle October. My documents had problems with the legalization. I received a mail three weeks later informing me about the mistakes. I corrected them and my papers were then sent to Gutachten (Middle November). My total Approbation experience is here.

– October and November: I had a lot of time because the courses were not intensive enough. I tried to attend conferences, scientific days, and lectures related to my wanted specialty and I suceeded. Most importantly, I attended a conference of the largest German society for psychiatry (DGPPN, official website) and that helped me to make contacts and to tremendously imrpove my knowledge about psychiatry in Germany. I came to know about such events from visiting the websites of univeristies, hospitals and that of the DGPPN.

– Early Dececmber 2014: I did Goethe’s C1 exam. But was distressed that the results need at least six weeks to appear. I waited about two months to get my certificate. I passed with 82.5. The preparation course for the C1 exam helped me a lot. It is really amazing.

– After attending the important psychiatry conference of the DGPPN, I sent seven printed applications for a job in Psychiatry in the District Governemtn of Arnsbeg. I got two interviews. I was accepted to beging working with Berufserlaubnis (i.e., before getting my Approbation).

– January 2015: Due to new laws, and because my medical degree was judged equal to that in Germany, I was then to do the Fachsprachnprüfung in the Ärztekammer in Münster. I could not get a Berufserlaubnis.

– 28.02.2015: I did the Fachsprachenprüfung and passed it. It was not easy. I will get my Approbation in about 10 days.

– 18.03.2015: I did the exam on 28.02.2015 and got my approbation 18 days later. They required from me to send a German Führungszeugnis (This document costs 13 Euro and one can get from the Rat Haus in the place where he is Angemeldet), a new Straffrehit und a new Ärztliche Bescheinigung (These two documents are in the website of the District Government of Arnsberg. Download them. You simply sign the first and the other one needs to be filled by a doctor. The last two documents need to be sent again when they are older than three months at the time of issuing the Approbation. I am in Germany since less than 6 months. However, I was asked to send the Führungszeugnis (Because in their leaflet, it states that this document need to be sent when the doctor is in Germany since at least six months). I politely complained to the responsible employee about this document and the previous two documents because these requiremnts are not present in the published leaflet. After some discussion, the employee thanked me and I think that she said that they would consider adding this information in the website.

– Graduates of the European Union and doctors from outside of the European Union who applied for Approbation in the District Governemnt of Arnsberg, Detmold and Münster and whose medical certificates are judged equal to those of Germany’s medical schools (Gleichwertigkeit bekommen).

– You cannot simply apply to do this exam if you did not apply for Approbation in one of these authorites. See a detailed example for Arnsberg here.

• How much does the exam cost?

– 300 Euro. You transfer the money to the account of the Ärztekammer. You can do that with online banking from your PC. I did that with my account at the Deutsche Bank. This takes less than 10 minutes.

• How can I register for this exam?

After your meical degree is judged equal (gleich), you will get an E-Mail from the Ärztekammer telling you that you can register the exam and giving you a list of possible appointments, a bank account to transfer the money, and asking you to send them in a reply email: Short CV, a scanned copy of your B2-Certificate, and a proof of the money transfer (I transferred the money online and I sent them a PDF version of the transfer order from my Deutsche Bank online account) and to specify two dates in which you can take the exam.

After sending this email, they will reply telling you of the date of your exam and that they would contact you about 10 days before your exam in order to let you know at what time you will do the exam.

If you have an Einstellungszusage then you can get an earlier appointment (as early as two-three weeks). It is best that the hospital contacts the Ärztekammer with an email.

• What happens if you failed this exam?

– You can repeat the exam. A limit for the repetitions is not specified. Simply because about all doctors passed this exam in the last years. Recently, the exam is hard and many now fail in the first time. However, I never heard or read about people who failed more than two times. [Update 21.03.2015: Yesterday, I met an egyptian doctor who failed this exam for a second time! I do not think it is hard now to fail the exam two times!].

• How much do you need to wait before you could repeat the exam?

– “Man sollmindestens drei Moanten warten”. A doctor who failed the exam told me that this was written on a paper telling him of his result. But now, because the doctors who need a Berufserlaubnis in Arnsberg are required also to pass this exam, then the waiting list is long. At the end of March, for example, two colleagues of mine were told that they need to wait until early may to do the exam.

To repeat the exam, the doctor who failed need to contact firstly the District Government in order that they in their turn notify the Ärztekammer to allow for the doctor to register again for the exam. The employees sometimes make this slow so that the doctor who failed would learn more German. For example, an employee in Arnsberg told a doctor who failed the exam that she would not allow him to do the exam again before he sends her a proof that he took a German medical language course. As a result, the whole process is slow and according to what I read and heard, at least three months would pass before being able to do the exam again.

• Where and when is the exam held?

– In the Ärztekammer Westfalen-Lippe. Website and location on Google Maps. The exam is most often held on a Saturday.

There is a train station that is at a walking distance of about 8-10 minutes from the Ärztekammer. It is called “Münster Zentrum Nord“. Taking a Taxi from the Hauptbahnhof in Münster costs about 8-10 Euros. Taking the train from Münster Hauptbahnhof to this station costs around 2,5 Euro.

• Duration of the exam?

– The exam lasts officially one hour. But for some, it lasted about 70 Minutes and for others 1.5 hours. The last happened with a colleague of mine from my hospital who did not do so good in the history taking part. The examining doctors then told him that they would ask him medical information in order to give him a second chance. According to my friend, the questions about mediccal knowledge lasted about 30 minutes and then they told him: “For the history that you took, you do not deserve to pass the exam. But because you medical knowledge is good, we will give you the Approbation!”.

• The exam:

– It is divided into three parts. The first part is history taking for 20 Minutes. There is a committe of three doctors, or two doctors and a secretary. One doctor plays the role of a patient. You write the history on blank papers. You are all comfortablly sitting in a room and you are offered some thing to drink!

After you take the histroy, you are taken to another room to write it. You have the options either to type if on PC or on a specific paper. Here is the paper:

For those who would like to type, you will type on a similar form like the paper above. It is an interactive PDF file. I chose to type because I type quickly (in German around 65 words per minute) and on PC you can correct mistakes. The doctor warned me that not many doctors do that and that I do not have a lot of time. I chose that nonetheless and later I think that the doctor liked it because he told the others in a little bit impressed way: “Yes, he typed it. Not many doctors do that!”. Yes, does the interactive PDF file shows you mistakes in grammar and spelling? No! It is not like Microsoft Word and I can easily imaging that are certainly not allowed to use Microsoft Word in the exam to check what you wrote.

Writing about the physical examination after writing the history is not required because you simply do not do a physical examination in the exam.

After writing/typing the history, you go back to the committee to discuss the history. You are asked questions like:

– “Can you summarize the history”

– “The patient is the hospital since yesterday, what did you do to him?”

– “What is your differential diagnoses and provisional diagnosis”

– “What is the treatment?”

– “What investigations do you want to do?”

– Not for all doctors, but many are asked to do Aufklärung, i.e., explanation of a medical procedure or operation to the patient. For example, endoskopie, koloskopie, appenziktomie, etc. You can find a lot of resouces in Google. For example, “Aufklärung Koloskopie“. Also see a document below by a Jordanian doctor which also contains Aufkärungen (they are a little bit short but they can give you an idea about what is important to say in the exam).

Now, medical information is asked about. Although this exam is not a knowledge exam, but such information are asked about in general. Details not required. Not all committees do so but many doctors are now faced with knowledge questions. Some say, this would not determine of you fail or pass and that the most important part of the exam is history-taking. If the history taking is excellent, and you answered more than half of the Lateinsisch-Deutsch words translation at the end of the exam, then you can pass.

• Most often asked about cases:

Recently, they are not being restricts to these. One important thing to note is that your case is most likely a part of your specialty or in which specialty you did a Hospitation.

An important skill in the histroy-taking is answering challenging questions (Like in the USMLE). For example:

– A patient has pain in chest. His father died because of lung cancer. He asks you, “Docotor, I will die! My father had this pain and he had cancer and died!”. The following is an example of a patient who has right upper abdominal pain and tells you suddenly in the exam that she thinks that she has liver cancer.

– A patient starts telling you that he is afraid of his disease and that he cannot concentrate. He does not allow you to take the history.

– A patient starts talking excessively about things not related to his disease. You need to bring him back to the topic.

– A patient is afraid to start taking Warfarin and asks you: “I heard that this medication has a lot of side effects. I do not want to take this drug” or “does it really have a lot of side effects?”. A german medical language teacher of mine told us that a doctor faile the exam as a result of the above question. The doctor began her answer with: “Yes, this medication has a lot of side effects” and then certainly went on to explain about the “nice” complications of Warfarin. The examining doctors told her that she failed because she caused the patient a lot of stress and fears.

I could not find resources in German to prepare myself for that. There are materials in Englisch for the USMLE CS exam.

• During taking the history, never ever use latin terms with the patient. Use only the german translation. And during presenting the case to the doctor, never ever use German words, use lateinsich terms. See the explanation about the last part of the exam at the end of this post.

• A short template that I prepared for taking the history:

Ask only these questions and you will cover everything. Repeat the sequence in this template, or simply modify it or develop your own. The idea is that you always take the history in a certain sequence so that with time you would never forget to ask about a part of the histroy (e.g., forget to ask about allergies, vaccinations, fever, weight, apetite, etc.). In Macleod’s Book of Clinical Examination, I think I once read about a beautiful idea regarding the correct sequence of the clinical examination. Should one examine the hands firstly or the head? Or maybe the lower limb firstly?

“There is no correct sequence of the clinial examination. The correct sequence is YOUR SEQUENCE. Just develop your own sequence and always stick to it!”

A video explaining taking the history in German as required by the Ärztekammer in Münster (also applies to most other authorities): Click here please!

• Last part of the exam: Translating from Lateinisch to Deutsch

You are giving a list of 10-12 Words which are in lateinisch and you are to give the German equivalents. For example:

For this part of the exam, there is a book by Dr. Nabeel Farhan, the founder of the Patientenkommunikationtest und head of the Freiburg International Academy. This book contains at the beginning very useful information related to histroy taking and then contains more than 70 pages of translations of German-English words. It is very useful and most doctors I know read it. The book is titled: “Medizinische Fachsprachenfortbildung für ausländische Ärzte“. I would also suggest simplzy reading German health news and using Google Chrome Add-Ons for immediate translattions (see the full details and instructions in this post of mine: “The Most Interesting and Quiskest Way to Learn a Lot of German Vocabulay and Pass Goethe’s B2 Exam“). This is a slower method for learning but is more intersting and the information learnt are certainly better understood than simply memorizing translations like in a dictionary. I think that the best method is combining the two methods and Farhan’s book is certainly a must.

Update 04.07.2016:

In this post is a great summary of the needed material for the Fachsprachenprüfung! It is really amazing! It contains almost all things! If I am to do the exam, then I would probably would not need a lot more than to read this summary. Of course, the more you learn, the better, but this summary really contains everything. It is prepared by an Egyptian doctor called “Muhamad Jamal Ataya”. I do not know him personally. I found a link to this great summary in a post in the group “Egyptian Doctors for Germany”.

Like this:

Telc Deutsch B2-C1 Medizin tests medical German language of doctors. It is called B2-C1 because it tests “indirectly” the Grammer of B2 level but the writing and speaking ability of C1 level (not very sure about what is B2 or C1… What is important, this is why it is called B2-C1. Not everything is required to be C1 level). This exam is now required for granting Approbation in many German states. I am sure about Hessen and Baden Wütemberg. However, this exam is not only important for Approbation. Its importance stems mainly that it can bring the doctor a lot of job interviews. Many Chefarzts (head doctors) and hospitals, as I was many times told, prefer applicants who have achieved C1 level in this exam. The doctors who passed this exam are considered to have the ability to to communicate and express themselves well in medical settings; whether with the patients, their relatives, and their colleagues.

• The following is the most important page. From it, you can download a PDF file representing a full Telc B2-C1 Medizin moch exam (full real exam). In this page also, you can download (or listen online) to audio files that represent the listening texts of the listening section in the book.

• Finally, ist it a pass/fail exam? Or in otherwords, how can a person get a C1 level in this exam?

This is explained in pages 53-55 of the mock exam PDF above. Unfortunatley, it is in German. However, it is not hard to be understood. This snapshot is from page 55 and represents the only three possiblities in which a participant can reach C1 level:

Not literal tanslation:

The participant would get a C1 certificate if he got a C1 level in the oral part of the exam and C1 level in “writing” or “listening/reading/vocabulary”. Getting C1 level in the oral part of the exam is a MUST! Otherwise, you will never get a C1 Certificate.

Therefore, there are only three possible cases for getting a C1 certificate:

– Case 1: A participant who got C1 in all parts of the exam.
– Case 2: A participant who got C1 in Oral part, C1 in listening/reading/vocabulary, and B2 in writing.
– Case 3: A participant who got C1 in Oral part, C1 in writing, and B2 in listening/reading/vocabulary.

Scenarios for getting the B2 certificate:(note: all the snapshots below are also from mock exam PDF file, pages 53-55)

Scenario for getting no certificate? Getting B1 level or a lower level in any exam part:

The total number of marks in each section are different. For writing it is for example 40. But for speaking it is 100. The details:

Speaking

Exam format:

Finally, how much does the exam cost?

According to the FAQ’s page in Telc’s website:

Your examination centre will inform you about the exam fee. Each examination centre is free to determine the exam fee individually, so unfortunately we cannot give you any details.

Like this:

I have always heard this sentence: “In a certain exam, if you scored higher than someone else, then this does not necessarily mean that you know better than that person. It might be only that you mastered certain tips and tricks for passing the exam. In other words, you knew what is tested in the exam and how is that tested“.

This is the same situation with my passing Goethe’s B2 Test. I took a mock test (sample test) of this exam in Goethe Institute in Amman, Jordan (My experience is in this post). I was shocked to find that only 20% of its questions are grammar-related. It is like the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). TOEFL has “zero” grammar questions and tests your knowledge of grammar indirectly through speaking and writing (Link to official sample questions for TOEFL). The 20% grammar-related questions of Goethe’s exam are represented by two questions: (1) To correct a written letter and (2) to fill in blanks. Their marks are only 20 from the total of 100 marks in the exam. Even these two questions do not require a good knowledge of grammar and test common expressions and grammar. For example:

I myself was, and still, very bad in grammar. I did not concentrate a lot on grammar as I liked the theory that grammar comes with time. One need to read and listen a lot and then a person can, like native speakers, speak with grammar without actually knowing the reason. During my experience of language exchange with native German speakers, I was told many times setences like: “I do not know why den Patienten NOT den Patient. It just sounds better when you say the first“.

Kató Lomb (1909-2003)

To further support this point on not concentrating on grammar, I like the following paraphrasing from two famous publihers. It is from a book called “Polyglot: How I learn languages”by Kato Lomb (1909-2003) (Wikipedia article); a Hungarian woman who has been called “possibly the most accomoplished polyglot in the world”. I highly recommend her book (The book is freely available for download from this link).

Therefore, after setting for this mock test and discovering what is actually tested in this exam, I decided only to collect the largest amount of vocabulary. This is what is mostly needed to pass this exam. This worked and I passed the B2 exam with a mark of 77.5%. I scored more than 70% in the grammar-related questions.

What is the secret to learning the largest amount of vocabulary in the most interesting, quickest, and easiest way possible?

I spent at least one month just reading articles on the internet. It was the most interesting and useful part of my German language learning. This is mainly because I started reading about topics I like and not being restricted with boring topics in books. Moreover, it saved me a lot of time from searching for the meaning of new words in dictionaries and the meaning of sentences and structures I do not understand. It saved my time because I did not have to type them as I used Google Chrome Extensions that show the meaning of words and sentences when you double-click them. I used, and still using, three extensions simultaneously:

– Dict.cc: This is a Chrome Extension of the great online free dictionary with the same name. This extension gives you the gender of words and their plural forms. Moreover, you can click “more” to go to their websites where you can find plural forms, conjugation of verbs and examples. In the screen shot below, you can see dict.cc in action. It translation is in the bottom. The translation in the top is from Google Dictionary Extension. Read about it next.

– Google Dictionary: This is useful because it functions as translator of all languages. If you click on a English word, then it will shows its English-English translation. Moreover, if you click on the name of famous person or place, then Google translate will give you explanation. This is not available through Dict.cc’s extension. In addition, you can highlight short sentences and this extension could translate them.

• ImTranslator: Google Translate: This is useful as it allows you to translate sentences. You can notice below the translation by this extension to the right. Google Dictionary extension also translate sentences (right). Hoover, you can see that the size of translation box is small and the text overlaps.

• The two important sources that I used to find interesting things to read:
– Google news in German: The advantage of Google news is not in that it categorises the news into different useful categories (Health, Politics, Technology, etc.), but that it shows the most famous pieces of news. Therefore, you can stay up-to-date with the top news each day.

– Wikipedia in German: I read a lot of articles about topics that interest me. The only problem with Wikipedia is that there are a lot of words that contain hyperlinks. Double-clicking these words will not show a translation and will cause your browsers to open new pages. You can, however, change the settings of Google Dictionary to show translation also when words are highlighted. This solves this issue, however, translation becomes harder.

A friend of mine was not convinced of this method and thought it is best to write down the meaning of new words on his book. After I convinced him of just trying this method, he liked it and started preparing to his B2 exam by reading about topics that interested him on the internet. After passing the B2 test, he told me:

“After I tried this method, I will tell anyone that learns the German language that this is the best and most interesting way to learn German vocabulary”.

Give it a try! It will take your minutes to install the extensions and start learning. You are simply reading… Reading about topics that you like not boring topics that does not interest you or would help you in your job!

More details and samples of the questions:
telc Deutsch B2-C1 Medizin is a dual-level German language examination for doctors seeking employment in a hospital in Germany. It tests your specific competence in the field of medicine. The lexical and structural competences are positioned at the upper end of the levels B2 and C1 respectively. The examination can be taken by anyone.

What can you do at levels B1 and B2?

At level B1 you can communicate in a simple and connected way in everyday situations, while travelling and when talking about topics that are of personal interest. You can describe experiences, hopes and ambitions and give reasons for opinions. On the whole you can use the most important grammatical structures correctly.

At level B2 you can express yourself clearly and explicitly and also successfully discuss and negotiate. You have a large command of the vocabulary needed for your field of specialisation and for most general topics. Your usage of grammar is sound.

What is the structure of the examination?

The exam consists of a written and an oral part. The written exam lasts 115 minutes. Before the oral exam you have 20 minutes preparation time. The oral exam can take place on the day of the written exam or on another day.

============================How do I prepare myself for the examination?
Gain language competence in language courses or study on your own. Bookshops have course books that prepare you specifically for the language levels B1 and B2.
Familiarise yourself with the procedure and types of subtests of the telc English B1-B2 examination. The mock examination will help you with this.May I use a dictionary during telc English B1-B2?
No.

When can I take the examination?
Your telc examination centre offers examinations regularly, and can also offer exams upon request. Please enquire at the centre when the next exam is scheduled. When you plan, please take into consideration that your examination centre has to register the exam at telc 30 days before the exam date.

Where can I take a telc examination?
At all telc examination centres (e.g. Adult Education Centres). Please be aware that some examination centres do not offer the entire telc programme. To find examination centres in your area, please click here.

[Note by me: This test cannot be taken in Jordan. You can take a preparatory course here in Jordan and later do that exam in one of the hundreds of recognized centers in German and many other countries in the world. The head of the Language Generation Center – Learn Languages in Jordan and another teacher from this center will be attending a training about this course in Telc-Institut in Germany and they will be holding a preparatory course here in Amman]

What does the examination cost?
Your examination centre will inform you about the exam fee. Each examination centre is free to determine the exam fee individually, so unfortunately we cannot give you any details.

How long does it take for me to get my telc certificate?
80% of the certificates are sent out to the examination centre 3 weeks after the complete documents have arrived at the telc Head Office in Frankfurt.

Can I repeat the examination?
Yes, you can repeat the exam as often as you wish. However, you have to repeat the whole exam, both written and oral parts.

Goethe Institute, Jordan, holds a sample test before each B2 or B1 exam (Probably also before other types of exams, but I am only sure of these two.) Last month, I participated in the B2 sample exam which is held every two months. I paid only 10 JD. We were 13 students. To take this sample test, you do not need to be a student at Goethe and you do not need to have registered for the B2 exam (It costs 120 JD). It was an amazing experience. Therefore, I will write about it as Goethe Institute published today the timing of the new B2 sample test: 15/04/2014 at 08:45 AM.(https://www.facebook.com/events/1416591968600818/?ref=22).

Last time’s sample test was under a direct supervision of the director of the Goethe Institute Amman, Dr. Christiane Krämer-Hus-Hus. For about 10 minutes before the exam, Dr. Krämer-Hus-Hus explained many things including the aims of the sample test (I hope my rememberance is good):1) To give students the chance to experience how the real exam is.2) To give students an important feedback on what to concentrate on. More importantly, the director said more than one time, “We do not want you to lose your money. We want to give you a chance to withdraw your money that you had paid for the registration for the B2 exam.” I think that the Institute will give you 110 JD (out of 120 JD) if you decided to withdraw up to three days before the date of the exam. Dr. Krämer-Hus-Hus continued saying, and it was very funny and interesting, “After you finish the exam, if we tell you not to take the exam and you still insist on that, then do that if you like to throw your money through the window on the street.” At the end of the exam, Dr, Krämer-Hus-Hus beautifully advised the 11 out 13 students who failed the exam, “Go and invest your money in learning German instead of taking this exam and failing in it!”

[I got 42.5. I needed 45 to pass. I had been learning German only since 7.5 months then. No one in my batch had taken the B2 exam yet].

Last time, the origin of the sample test was from the book “Fit fürs Goethe-Zertifikat b2, 2 Auflage, 2012”. The book is amazing and I highly recommend it preaparing for Goethe’s B2 Test. Today, an employee at Goethe Institute told me that next time’s exam would be a real Goethe test not from a book. This is more rational! We began the sample test at 09:30 AM with general instructions. We finished at about 03:00 PM with instructions on the speaking section.

The details of the sample test:

We did three out of four parts of the Exam (Reading – Lesen, Writing – Schreiben, and Listening- Hörverstehen). The timing of each section is like the real exam. We started with writing, then continued with listening and reading. Concerning the writing section, they made copies of the texts that each of us wrote before a teacher from the institute corrected them. After we finished the above three written parts of the exam, they distributed randomly the uncorrected copies of the texts at us. They taught us how a text is corrected (On what points are marks given. For example, grammar, spelling, covering the points in the question, use of good expressions, etc.) This was amazing! I did not know that the correction is that systematic. Next, we worked in pairs to correct and give a mark for three random texts that were given to each pair of us. The director of Goethe Institute then wrote the marks on a white board. She then wrote beside each of our marks the mark given by the teacher. We compared the two marks. Most of our marks were higher than the real marks given by the teacher. Interestingly, one student got zero/15 because he did not understood the topic of the writing correctly and wrote an irrelevant text. Making a hard fest, the director of Goethe Institute finally concluded, “We were stricter than you are!” They then gave us the corrections of the text we wrote, the reading, and the listening sections.

Concerning the speaking section (Mündlich) of the exam. It takes a lot of time for teachers to do it for all participants. Therefore, a teacher accompanied us after we finished all the previous three parts to a video room. After only 2/13 students were told that they had passed and were recommended to take the exam, only five students were interested to attend this section. Like the writing section, the teacher gave us written instructions and explained to us how the performance of participants is evaluated (Fluency, grammar, content, covering the points of the question, etc.). She then showed us a sample official video of real students who took Goethe’s speaking section. This is the most beautiful part. She then asked us to rate the answers of the students in the video. We then discussed the strengths and weakness of each student’s response.

Finally, to pass the exam, you need:

1) Get at least 45/75 in the written section (Reading, listening, and writing). Regardless of whether or not you passed each section. For example, a student who got 20, 20, and 5 can pass the exam.2) Pass the speaking section with at least 15/25.

If you failed in any of above two, you should repeat the WHOLE TEST. You cannot only repeat individual sections.

The experience was great. It provides you with a very important feedback and allows you to live almost the real exam. Most importantly, it is only for 10 JD. I highly recommend it.